| Rank | Fighter | % | Promotion | Last Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cain Velasquez | 98 | UFC | 3 |
| 2 | Brock Lesnar | 94 | UFC | 1 |
| 3 | Fedor Emelianenko | 89 | M-1 Global / Strikeforce | 2 |
| 4 | Fabricio Werdum | 86 | Strikeforce | 4 |
| 5 | Shane Carwin | 83 | UFC | 5 |
| 5 | Junior dos Santos | 83 | UFC | 6 |
| 7 | Frank Mir | 76 | UFC | 7 |
| 8 | Alistair Overeem | 75 | Strikeforce | 8 |
| 9 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | 70 | UFC | 9 |
| 10 | Antonio Silva | 53 | Strikeforce | 12 |
| 11 | Josh Barnett | 52 | Strikeforce | 10 |
| 12 | Brett Rogers | 46 | Strikeforce | 11 |
| 13 | Brendan Schaub | 31 | UFC | 27 |
| 14 | Cheick Kongo | 27 | UFC | 14 |
| 15 | Andrei Arlovski | 26 | Strikeforce | 16 |
| 16 | Roy Nelson | 26 | UFC | 17 |
| 17 | Gabriel Gonzaga | 24 | Free Agent | 13 |
| 18 | Mirko Filipovic | 22 | UFC | 15 |
| 19 | Ben Rothwell | 22 | UFC | 20 |
| 20 | Aleksander Emelianenko | 22 | Azerbaijan Pankration Federation | 19 |
| 21 | Pedro Rizzo | 21 | Impact Fighting Championship | 18 |
| 22 | Tim Sylvia | 18 | Powerhouse World Promotions | 21 |
| 23 | Stefan Struve | 15 | UFC | 23 |
| 24 | Randy Couture | 14 | UFC | 22 |
| 25 | Cole Konrad | 14 | Bellator | 29 |
Rankings compiled by Richard Wade.
Obviously the epic news this month is the rise of #1 Cain Velasquez after his demolition of #2 Brock Lesnar at UFC 121.
He'll defend his title against #5 Junior dos Santos in early 2011.
The other big mover from UFC 121 was #13 Brendan Schaub who jumps up from #27 with his win over #17 Gabriel Gonzaga.
Meanwhile we wait to hear when and if #3 Fedor Emelianenko will return to Strikeforce for the final fight on his contract.
Presumably that will be a rematch with #4 Fabricio Werdum although that would leave Strikeforce champ #8 Alistair Overeem out in the cold.
Perhaps he'll be able to console himself by taking home the K-1 GP title.
#5 Shane Carwin had to drop out of a UFC 125 bout with #16 Roy Nelson. No word on who Big Country will face next. #18 Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic has been rumored. #7 Frank Mir is another possibility, but they're likely going to save him for a rubber match with #2 Brock Lesnar. #9 Antonio Rodrigo "Big Nog" Nogueira is still recovering from the surgery that made him miss UFC 119.
#10 Antonio Silva will face Overeem's brother Valentijn Overeem at Strikeforce's December 4th event in an utterly pointless matchup. Especially with #11 Josh Barnett and #12 Brett Rogers both sitting idle. Rogers did fight and win a tune up fight against aging journeyman Ruben "Warpath" Villareal outside Strikeforce last week. He didn't look good but the thing that matters is the win.
#14 Cheick Kongo escaped from UFC 119 with a tie against Travis Browne. He cost himself the fight with blatant fouls. His fellow long-time UFC gatekeeper Gabriel Gonzaga lost to Schaub and was cut. I'm presuming that his high cost is the reason for the cut. It's too bad, I'd have preferred to see Kongo vs Gonzaga in a battle of the gatekeepers/loser leaves town match first.
#15 Andrei Arlvoski signed to fight in K-1's GP but bowed out. No word on what's next for the Belorussian.
#21 Pedro Rizzo and #22 Tim Sylvia were rumored to meet sometime soon, but nothing has been heard recently. I'd like to see the winner of that fight in Strikeforce.
Based on the premise that all MMA rankings are subjective but that it’s still useful and informative to know who the online MMA community as a whole ranks as the best fighters in MMA, we collect and average the rankings of the top MMA websites to produce our consensus rankings. We compile the top MMA rankings from each of our sources and award 25 points for a first place ranking, 16 for a 10th place ranking, 1 for a 25th place ranking. A formula is used to "normalize" the data so all fighters are awarded points from those lists that do not include a full 25 fighters. This formula ensures that each ranking site awards the same number of total points regardless of how many fighters they choose to rank. Each fighter’s total is divided by the number of possible points to determine their standing in the Consensus Rankings.
We are now moving to what JCS of Fight Matrix has described as assumed rankings in an attempt to rank fighters who move between weight classes. This has been the biggest problem with the consensus rankings and we believe this new methodology will rectify that.
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